Agoraphobia is a severe anxiety disorder, a clinical grouping of mental health issues for which there is no definitive known cause. It is often partnered with another anxiety disorder, such as Social Anxiety Disorder or Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, though it can be a standalone issue. It has also been linked to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. It is important to know if the agoraphobia has an underlying cause or if it is a single issue, as if one is treated for the actual condition (OCD or SAD), then the agoraphobia itself usually fades.

In cases where agoraphobia is the only anxiety disorder present, sufferers will feel an overwhelming fear of being outside. This can sometimes just be in unfamiliar or crowded places, but some affected by agoraphobia will not wish to be out of their home at all. If an agoraphobia is required to leave their home, they will become increasingly panicked – often suffering anxiety attacks and physical fear symptoms, such as shaking or feeling sick.

The main treatment for agoraphobia is exposure therapy, whereby a person gradually increases the amount of time they spend outside. This is usually done with psychiatric assistance and observation. While agoraphobia can never be cured, it can be managed, and with effective treatment sufferers can go on to live normal, happy lives.

While many people are shy and find it difficult to be around new people, those with Social Anxiety Disorder suffer more than would be considered normal. They may go out of their way to avoid social situations, often to their detriment, and will experience physical symptoms of fear – such as shaking – in a social environment. They may also blush more frequently, and can sometimes be so nervous of being around people they are physically sick.

SAD is a relatively newly recognized anxiety disorder. Before its clinical recognition, sufferers may have simply been referred to as suffering from “nerves” or just being shy. The disorder is still in its early phases of clinical testing, but responses have been seen with usual anti-anxiety medication and behavioral therapy. While the illness can be overcome with correct psychiatric and psychological treatment, it can never be definitively cured. This, however, is not unique to SAD – no anxiety disorder can be cured, as such.

There is no known cause for SAD, though some sufferers do show lower than normal levels of serotonin (the so-called ‘feel good’ hormone) when tested. Due to its somewhat ambiguous nature, SAD can go undiagnosed for years – sometimes decades – before medical recognition. A primary reason for this is that those with SAD naturally avoid visiting a doctor, due to their condition – a catch 22 situation which will hopefully dissipate as awareness rises.

The second behavior that defines OCD is the “compulsive” part, known as compulsions. Compulsions are the result of the obsessive thoughts that are the primary definition of OCD. While a person can be Pure-O (only suffer thoughts, not compulsions), most sufferers do struggle with compulsions. A compulsion is usually a prevention of the obsessive thoughts, an act which is meant to reassure the sufferer (though this is rarely successful). For example, if someone has obsessive thoughts about contamination and germs, they will wash their hands or clean obsessively to alleviate their fears. However, the period of relief is usually shorts – sometimes mere moments – and then the compulsion to clean or wash their hands begins again. While the compulsions supply no relief whatsoever, sufferers cannot stop themselves from performing them.

OCD is listed as 8th on a World Health Organization list of illnesses that most effect quality of life, above cancer and other physical illnesses. However, only 30% of cases are correctly diagnosed by doctors in the first instance. With treatment and diagnosis, OCD can be managed, but never cured.

Anxiety can be defined as a state of fear which is without justifiable reason. While many people feel anxious upon hearing bad or worrying news, this is a normal level of anxiety caused by a shock reaction of adrenaline in the body – and is usually harmless. Anxiety becomes a problem, known as a disorder, when these moments of high anxiety happen frequently or without just cause.

‘Just cause’ is difficult to define, as usually there will be some basis of fear which is creating the anxiety attack. However, in cases such as those suffering from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, this fear is not in scale with the problem actually presented to the individual – in a sense, an anxiety attack is an overreaction. On the other side, many people experience anxiety for no definable reason (inflated or not) whatsoever.

The most important thing to remember is that anxiety is not a sustainable state. Severe anxiety disorders uses up much of the bodies resources, and within half an hour, even the most severe anxiety disorder symptoms will begin to subside. Sometimes, with anxiety, all you can do is learn to ride it out.

There is a traditional opinion that mental health issues are somehow less serious than physical conditions. Because a physical condition is usually something that can be seen, there is a tendency to rate them as being more serious than mental health issues. But depression, OCD, SAD and others have affected people so badly that they kill themselves – so it is only right that they are treated seriously too.

In most cases, the anxiety over telling a family member of a mental health condition will be misplaced. They will be concerned for the sufferer and want them to get better. As yet, widespread understanding of mental health issues is not uniformly great, and it may take more explanation than a physical condition. However, in the end the family member will want their brother, son, wife or other family member to feel better, and will learn what they can to help them.

Aside from this, a family has a right to know that their relative is ill. They would be horrified if the secret went to the grave and they had not had a chance to help with their mental health issues. It may be difficult to face up to, but telling family is important.

Generalized Anxiety Disorder, or GAD is an illness which is characterized by worry about everyday, mundane things. It is typically a disproportionate worry about something that, in all likelihood, will not be a major problem. Typical flashpoints for GAD are things such as money, work and relationships – things that may well be going well for the sufferer, but due to the disorder will begin to niggle in their mind.

An individual with GAD may be in an excellent, well-paid job with prospects for the future, a stable and happy relationship and have numerous good friends. The disorder will pick at one or more of these and present the individual with the fear that something will go wrong. Most usually, it will use a small problem and expand it until the problem is all the sufferer can see. Usually treated using anti-depressants and cognitive behavioral therapy, generalized anxiety disorder can become debilitating, but if it is tackled head-on the sufferer can overcome it and lead a happy life.

This leads many people suffering from depression or anxiety problems to turn their backs on conventional medicines, and seek out a herbs for anxiety solutions. There are some famous remedies touted, the most famous of which being St. John’s Wort as an aid for both depression and anxiety problems. Anxiety specifically has the famous Rescue Remedies, based on herbal ingredients, which claim to calm and soothe the user when ingested.

So do they work? Well, yes and no. For a start, with any medicine, herbal or otherwise, there is a placebo element that must be considered. If someone with an anxiety problem is told that Rescue Remedy will absolutely, undoubtedly help them, they may believe it will help so much that it actually does. While the medicine itself has not helped, the effect is the same – mind over medical matter, almost.

Bearing this in mind, it is important to say there is no firm, clinical evidence that St. John’s Wart or anything other herbal remedy can help with an anxiety problem. There is certainly no physiological evidence. It would appear your money is best spent on therapies and psychiatric understanding, though there is no reason not to give a herbal remedy a try once in awhile.

For example, clinical depression. A much-misused term, depression is now used to describe someone feeling a bit low. However, if someone has full, clinical depression, they will experience long periods of horrifically low mood, low motivation and a general feeling of emptiness. A cruel illness, but one that is described as being mental, and a regular target for the “pull yourself out of it!” brigade.

Yet depression does have a physical basis. Depression is caused by a lower-than-average amount of serotonin in the body. Also known as the “feel good” hormone, serotonin controls the mood, personality and feelings of an individual. If serotonin levels are low, the individual will experienced depressive, low thoughts. This is a physical problem with mental evidence, but it is physical nonetheless – anti-depressants work on increasing serotonin levels, and tend to have a decent success rate.

Furthermore, preliminary scans have shown those with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder have enlarged lobes at the front of the brain. These lobes control our worry and anxiety mechanism, and when enlarged, the anxiety goes into overdrive – resulting in what we know as OCD.

So these mental illnesses are, more often than not, physical in basis after all – and one can no more “shake off” or “get over” a hormone imbalance than one can “shake off” a broken leg!

Mental health problems, such as anxiety disorders or depressive illnesses, tend to begin to manifest around puberty – clouding the issue all the more. There is also puberty itself to contend with, meaning that many teenagers may be experiencing the beginnings of a mental health issue, but do not want to confide in their parents. It is a primary worry for parents, as they watch their child grow – how do you know if your child is going through a natural change, or if it’s a medical problem?

The real trouble is, there is no real way to know. Many teenagers themselves may not know. Studies done by a UK Obsessive Compulsive Disorder charity show that many sufferers’ do begin to exhibit signs during their adolescence, but do not even see for themselves that they are developing a problem. It is often put down to normal teenage moods, and it can mean decades of miserable suffering in silence for the unfortunate individual.

As a parent, you want to protect your child, and if they do have an anxiety disorder, you want to help them. Learn to observe the way your child behaves. Reinforce with your child that you are there for them, and let on in other ways that you are understanding of mental illness. Hopefully, when if they do experience problems, they will then feel they can talk to you, and help can be sought.

It is understandable that, in years gone by, there was a general distrust for those who did not appear to be as mentally healthy as one could hope. Yet as time has passed, we as a species have been able to learn more and more about mental health issues. We should know by now that not everyone who has a mental health problem is crazy – or, a favorite of the down market media, “schizo”. Mental health is varied and layered – and what is “normal” anyway?

Just because an individual is diagnosed as suffering from a mental illness does not mean they are not “normal”. All it means, in the basest of ways, is that part of their brain malfunctions. This does not mean they are going to start wielding a knife or break down crying. The vast majority of those who suffer with mental health issues carry on exactly as normal, hiding their condition – which, in turn, can worsen it. There is still a terrible stigma toward mental health problems across the globe.

Many people fear those with mental health – by default, regardless of their condition – do so out of ignorance. It is important to remember that, across the span of your life, you will meet hundreds of people with clinical diagnosed mental health problems – and you will have no idea. A few select cases of those suffering from extreme forms of mental illnesses have lead to a general, and incorrect, assumption of perceived danger. Until the stigma fades, mental health will still be a dark area, where sufferers’ feel they cannot be honest about how they are feeling.